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The Bank of America Amtrak Guest Rewards® World Mastercard® is a stellar credit card for consumers who frequently travel with its affiliated railroad. Individuals looking for a card to replace their old Chase Amtrak credit card should be relieved – this card is arguably an even better offering than its predecessor.

Review: Is The Amtrak Guest Rewards® World Mastercard® Worth It?

The Amtrak Guest Rewards® World Mastercard® offers fantastic value to individuals who travel with the railroad company. The more money you charge to this card, the more Amtrak points you’ll earn – all of which can be used towards paying for future Amtrak travel. If you tend to travel with one or more people, the card also offers up an annual companion coupon, which will allow one person on your reservation to travel for free. If taken advantage of, all these benefits combined make the Amtrak credit card a strong contender.

To those readers looking for a replacement for their old Chase Amtrak credit card, the Bank of America version is a worthy candidate, despite the $79 annual fee. If you take advantage of either of the annual loyalty benefits, the $79 fee becomes justifiable. On top of this, the Bank of America Amtrak credit card offers more generous rewards on spending than the Chase card ever did.

If you’re looking for a more flexible travel rewards credit card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card makes for a better option. Amtrak rewards points can be transferred to a few other programs, though we recommend against such a move, as it will almost always result in your point being devalued.

Bottom Line: If you travel with Amtrak at least once a year, this Bank of America Amtrak credit card is a good investment for you. Between the rewards it offers on different spending, and the loyalty cardmember benefits, the card certainly pulls its weight, and serves as a decent addition to one’s wallet.

Amtrak Guest Rewards® World Mastercard® Benefits & Features

The Amtrak credit card is a great way of earning extra Amtrak Guest Rewards points. Shopping with the card earns you 3 points for every $1 spent on Amtrak travel, 2 points per $1 on general travel spending, and 1 point per $1 elsewhere.

Amtrak Guest Rewards® World MasterCard®

Annual Fee

$79

Purchase APR

12.99% to 22.99% Variable

Credit Needed

Good

Details

To welcome you to your new card, you'll also receive a complimentary Companion Coupon, One-Class Upgrade and a single-day ClubAcela® pass

In addition to the above, cardholders can also earn 20,000 bonus points, if they spend at least $1,000 in purchases within 90 days of account opening. If you’re using the card to purchase Amtrak tickets, you will earn these points on top of the base Guest Rewards program (2 points per $1). This bonus is enough to pay for a roundtrip with Amtrak, within the Northeastern zone, within one zone, or between two zones. We estimate its value to be around $520 - based on the calculations shown below.

What Are Amtrak Rewards Points Worth?

On average, the value of a single Amtrak Guest Rewards point is $0.026 – more than the typical rewards points. At surface level, the points earned through the Amtrak credit card can be used to pay for travel with the railroad. The value of your points will differ, however, based upon the redemption option you go with. The table below shows some sample round-trip itineraries for coach nights.

From

To

USD

Points

USD/Point

New York City

Washington, DC

$88

4,000

$0.022

Newark

Jacksonville

$134

5,500

$0.024

Chicago

San Diego

$259

8,000

$0.032

Boston

Los Angeles

$276

10,500

$0.026

Average:

$0.026

If you use points to pay for Amtrak travel, you will receive 5% of those points as a rebate. Doing so will boost the value of individual points, ever so slightly. With the rebate, your average per point value comes out to $0.028. At these rates, the rewards rate of the Amtrak credit card comes out to anywhere between 2.6% and 8.4% (if you're using the card to get 3 points per $1). This is significantly higher than even the best rewards credit cards - though keep in mind your rewards will take a rather limited form (exchangable for mostly more Amtrak rides).

Transferring Amtrak Rewards Points

For the most part, transferring your Amtrak Rewards points to other programs is not a worthwhile venture. The points earned through the Amtrak credit card can be transferred to one of three hotel programs: Choice Privileges, Hilton HHonors, and Starwood Preferred Guest.

Loyalty Program

Reward

Amtrak Points Needed

Choice Privileges

15,000 Choice Privileges Points

5,000

Hilton Hhonors

10,000 Hilton Hhonors Points

5,000

Starwood

One Night Stay at Category 1 Hotel

10,000

Starwood

One Night Stay at Category 2 Hotel

15,000

Starwood

One Night Stay at Category 3 Hotel

22,500

Starwood

One Night Stay at Category 4 Hotel

27,500

Due to the low value of Choice Privilege and Hilton HHonors points, it is not immediately useful to move your Amtrak points to either of these currencies – at the end of the day, you’d be loosing, on average, approximately 50% of your total value. Furthermore, the using your Amtrak points to pay for Starwood hotel stays is also unfavorable to consumers - resulting in a per-point value well below $0.01. For example, one night at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtwon Hotel (Category 4), costs $99 - or 27,500 Amtrak points. This comes out to a value of $99 / 27,500 = $0.0036 per point.

Certain travel hackers may be able to find deals such that a move to one of these other rewards programs may be beneficial. However, this would require a significant time investment, and a lot of planning.

Tier Qualifying Points (TQP)

For every $5,000 you spend on your Amtrak credit card, you can earn 1,000 Tier Qualifying Points (TQPs), which count towards earning status with Amtrak. Unlocking different tiers of this elite membership grants access to additional benefits and perks. Normally, to earn TQPs one needs to travel with Amtrak – using the card to make everyday purchases can help shortcut this process.

‘Select Membership’ – the lowest tier – requires 5,000 TQPs. This status comes with a 25% bonus to the base (non-credit card rewards) Amtrak points you earn. With 10,000 TQPs earned in a single year, your base rate goes up by 50%, with Select Plus membership. The highest tier, Select Executive, is achieved with 20,000 TQPs, and gives 100% bonus on points earned through Amtrak trips.

Companion Coupon & One-Class Upgrade

When you first sign-up for the Amtrak credit card, you receive a slew of welcome gifts, including a free Companion Coupon, One-Class Upgrade, and a single-day ClubAcela® pass. Furthermore, the first two benefits mentioned – the companion coupon and one-class upgrade – will be awarded to cardholders in good standing, each account anniversary.

The Companion Coupon allows you to take one person with you on your journey, free of charge. This can prove to be a fantastic value, as it can save $100+ annually (assuming a roundtrip ride). If used, this benefit can easily cover the cost of the card’s $79 annual fee. The savings is, of course, directly proportional to cost of the trip. The more Amtrak zones you move through in your trip, the more expensive the tickets become. Note that this Companion Coupon is only usable for 1 reservation per year.

The One-Class upgrade can be used to move up from coach to business class, on a single, one-way trip per year. That is, if you book a round-trip itinerary, only one leg of it will be eligible for the upgrade. The class upgrade can also move passengers up from Acela Business class to Acela First class. To show you the potential monetary value of such an upgrade, we looked at a sample ride between NYC and Washington DC. A coach ticket costs $52, for one leg of the journey. A Business Class seat, for that same trip, costs $197. Therefore, you could potentially get a $145 value out of this small perk.

How Does The Amtrak Guest Rewards® World Mastercard® Compare to Other Credit Cards?

It’s impossible to get a sense of a card’s value in a vacuum. For this reason, we compared the Amtrak Guest Rewards® World Mastercard® to some other leading options.

The Amtrak Guest Rewards® Platinum Mastercard® is a ‘no annual fee’ version of the Amtrak Guest Rewards® World Mastercard®. As such, the rewards of this card are dwarfed. Most notably, the Amtrak Guest Rewards® Platinum Mastercard® does not offer any companion coupon, one-class upgrade, or ClubAcela® pass. If you have use for either the companion pass, or one-class upgrade, at least once every year, then the Amtrak Guest Rewards® World Mastercard® is the better card. Otherwise, you will need to weigh whether you spend enough money on non-Amtrak travel purchases, in order to justify the $79 annual fee. If your annual budget here exceeds $2,080, paying the fee becomes worthwhile.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred®, one of the best travel rewards credit cards, has historically been a good choice for those who travel with Amtrak. The Chase Ultimate Rewards points you earn with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card could be transferred to the Amtrak rewards program. However, at the end of 2015, Amtrak and Chase Ultimate Rewards are no longer partnered, and will not be transferable. If a majority of the travel you do is restricted to Amtrak, then the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card won’t offer a good value – we recommend the Amtrak credit card in its stead.

Comparison Tool

Those of you who wish to receive a more personalized credit card recommendation may way to make use of our credit card comparison tool below. Enter your estimated monthly expenses by category, and we will do all the math for you – calculating the estimated returns from each credit card.

Name

Savings Through (Through 24 Months)

Rewards

Dollars

Assumptions Based On Monthly Spend of: $1,430Edit

General:

U.S. Gas Stations:

U.S. Supermarkets:

Airlines:

Hotel:

U.S. Restaurants:

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Computing:

Card

Annual Fee

2-yr Net Rewards Rate

The Net Rewards Rate is equal to the Rewards Value over two years divided by the total spending. The total spending is equal to the values entered into the tool and multiplied by 24 months. See the rewards Value note to see details on how it is calculated.

The estimates here are ValuePenguin's alone. They are not those of the card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. All estimates are based on the spend assumptions entered above (which you can edit).

Bonus Value

The bonus field shows our estimate for the value of the card’s welcome bonus. If the bonus is point or mile based, we multiply the total bonus points/miles by our estimate for their value to arrive at a dollar equivalent. We display $0 if there is no bonus or if the user doesn’t qualify for the bonus based on the current spending entered into the tool. All estimates are based on the spend assumptions entered above (which you can edit).

The estimates here are ValuePenguin's alone. They are not those of the card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer.

2-yr Rewards Value

The Rewards value is calculated by adding together the rewards earned from charging purchases to the card over two years and any welcome bonuses (if applicable). They are then multiplied by our estimated point/mile value, with any annual fees (if applicable) subtracted. All values are based on our own estimates for the dollar value of any points, miles or bonuses earned using a card and on the spend assumptions entered above (which you can edit).

The estimates here are ValuePenguin's alone. They are not those of the card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer.

Earn up to 60,000 Bonus Points - 40,000 Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening;Earn an additional 20,000 Bonus Points after you spend a total of $6,000 on purchases within the first 6 months of account opening

Card Details

Earn 75,000 Bonus Points after you use your new Card to make $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months.

Earn 6 points for each dollar of eligible purchases at participating SPG® and Marriott Rewards® hotels and 2 points on all other eligible purchases.

No Foreign Transaction Fees on International purchases.

Receive 1 Free Night Award every year after your Card account anniversary. Award can be used for one night (redemption level at or under 35,000 points) at a participating hotel. Select hotels have resort fees.

Enjoy complimentary, unlimited Boingo Wi-Fi on up to four devices at more than 1,000,000 Boingo hotspots worldwide. Enrollment required.

Card Details

Earn 125,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points with the Hilton Honors American Express Ascend Card after you use your new Card to make $2,000 in eligible purchases within the first 3 months of Card Membership.

Earn a Weekend Night Reward from Hilton Honors after you spend $15,000 on purchases on your Card in a calendar year.

Earn 12X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with a hotel or resort within the Hilton Portfolio.

Earn 6X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases on your Card at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations.

Estimated Rewards Through 24 Months

*The value estimate is calculated using ValuePenguin.com rewards point value.

Annual Fee

$89

APR

16.99%, 20.99% or 25.99% Variable

Card Details

Primary cardholder is eligible to earn a $100 discount off one coach companion ticket for roundtrip travel between Hawaii and North America on Hawaiian Airlines on each account anniversary upon payment of annual fee

Receive a one-time 50% Off companion discount for roundtrip coach travel between Hawaii and North America on Hawaiian Airlines

As a primary cardholder, receive a complimentary first checked bag every time you use your card to purchase eligible tickets directly from Hawaiian Airlines

Estimated Rewards Through 24 Months

*The value estimate is calculated using ValuePenguin.com rewards point value.

Annual Fee

$0

APR

13.99% - 24.99% Variable

Card Details

INTRO OFFER: Discover will match ALL the cash back you've earned at the end of your first year, automatically. There's no signing up. And no limit to how much is matched.

Earn 5% cash back at different places each quarter like gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, Amazon.com and more up to the quarterly maximum, each time you activate. Plus, earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases - automatically.

Redeem cash back any amount, any time. Rewards never expire.

100% U.S. based customer service.

Get your free Credit Scorecard with your FICO® Credit Score, number of recent inquiries and more.

Receive FREE Social Security number alerts-Discover will monitor thousands of risky websites when you sign up.

Card Details

INTRO OFFER: Discover will match ALL the cash back you've earned at the end of your first year, automatically. There's no signing up. And no limit to how much is matched.

Earn 5% cash back at different places each quarter like gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, Amazon.com and more up to the quarterly maximum, each time you activate. Plus, earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases - automatically.

Get 100% U.S. based customer service & get your free Credit Scorecard with your FICO® Credit Score, number of recent inquiries and more.

Receive FREE Social Security number alerts-Discover will monitor thousands of risky websites when you sign up.

Estimated Rewards Through 24 Months

*The value estimate is calculated using ValuePenguin.com rewards point value.

Annual Fee

$0

APR

14.99% - 23.99% Variable

Card Details

INTRO OFFER: Discover will match ALL the cash back you've earned at the end of your first year, automatically. There's no signing up. And no limit to how much is matched.

Earn 5% cash back at different places each quarter like gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants or Amazon.com up to the quarterly maximum each time you activate. Plus, earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases – automatically.

Good Grades Rewards: $20 statement credit each school year your GPA is 3.0 or higher for up to the next 5 years.

No annual fee. No late fee on first late payment. No APR change for paying late.

Get 100% U.S. based customer service & get your free Credit Scorecard with your FICO® Credit Score, number of recent inquiries and more.

Get 10,000 MyCruise Points after making a transaction within 65 days of account opening; $300 discount off a future cruise of at least 7 nights or more in a Concierge Class stateroom, after $5,000 in transactions within your first 60 days

$200 Airline Fee Credit per calendar year in statement credits when incidental fees, such as checked bags and in-flight refreshments, are charged by the airline to your Business Platinum Account; Earn 60,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases on your new card in your first 3 months

Comments and Questions

Opinions, analyses, reviews, or recommendations expressed here are the author's alone, and have not been reviewed or endorsed by the issuer. We may be compensated through the issuer's Affiliate Program. For a full list of our advertisers see our disclosure page

* See the online credit card application for details about terms and conditions. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. However all credit card information is presented without warranty. When you click on the "Apply Now" button, you can review the credit card terms and conditions on the issuer's website.

Info about the following cards: Premier Rewards Gold Card from American Express, Delta Reserve® Credit Card from American Express, Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express, Hilton Honors Surpass® Credit Card, American Express® Blue Sky, American Express® Green Card, The Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card from American Express, The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express, The Plenti® Credit Card from Amex, Blue from American Express®, Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Mercedes-Benz, Bluebird, Centurion® Card from American Express, Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card, Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card, and Amazon Business American Express Card has been collected independently by ValuePenguin. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy.

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program.

These responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

How We Calculate Rewards: ValuePenguin calculates the value of rewards by estimating the dollar value of any points, miles or bonuses earned using the card less any associated annual fees. These estimates here are ValuePenguin's alone, not those of the card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer.

Example of how we calculate the rewards rates: When redeemed for travel through Ultimate Rewards, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card points are worth $0.0125 each. The card awards 2 points on travel and dining and 1 point on everything else. Therefore, we say the card has a 2.5% rewards rate on dining and travel (2 x $0.0125) and a 1.25% rewards rate on everything else (1 x $0.0125).

Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the offers that appear on this website are from companies which ValuePenguin receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where offers appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). The site does not review or include all companies or all available products. For more information please see our Advertiser Disclosure.